The Washington critic., 1887-06-30
HOW GREAT MEN WRITE
The Manuscripts that Are Sent to
the Public Printer.
CURIOUS oHIRoaRAPHIHs.
Peculiarities of Various Well
known Members of Congress.

gives me some interesting facts about
how our Congressman prepare their
speeches. He says that out Of the 1926
members Of the House less than ten
now furnish their own manuscripts to
the printers, and that Of these Warner
Of Ohio Is the worst writer, while
Breckenridge of Kentucky is about the
best. warmers copy" he says, "is
full Of interllneations and revlsions. 1t
looks like the tracks of a drunken hen
or an intoxicated fly who has crawled
In irregular lines across the sheet. 1t
Is readable, however, by those who are
accustomed to 1t, and 1t looks much
better in the Record than It does
In manuscript. Breckenridge writes
very nice hand. He dictates some of
his speeches to the type writer and fur.
nishes others In pen and ink. Holman,
the great objector, writes very well for
an old man. lie shows his character
In his hang griting and makes the let.
tiers small md puts the lines very close
together. He does this, l suppose, TO
save ink and paper. We never see
Tom Reeds copy at all. He always
speaks extemporaneously, and his chief
work In Congress Is In making short
speeches. His average speech is line
and half long, but he sometimes rises
10 the occasion and makes a fiery poll.
tical speech which reads as smoothly as
though II had been carefully prepared.
K1ute Nelson developed into q promi.
ut speaker this year. Last year he
didn't COW pnn urpri Thfa paar 4, n ., 4
Hepburn were, next to Holman. the
most chronic objectors. Dick Town.
shend of Illinois is good friend of the
printers. He writes good hand and
his copy is well prepared for the press.
Sam Cox furnishes as poor copy as any
that comes into the office. His hand Is
running scrawl, and any kind of pa.
per suits him. He uses old envelopes,
newspaper wrap pers, and scraps of
any description. He pastes his manu-.
script together. lie interlines 1t, re-.
corrects 1t, and some of his copy looks
as bad as the hieroglyphics on the
tomb Of I'll. He is a great fellow to
correct proofs also, and though his
speeches are very good, 1t costs the
Government something to get them.
Senator Call Of Florida is another
man who is not particular as to his
paper. The back of an envelope, a
piece Of circus bill or common print.
er's paper suits him as we'll as anything
else. Calls hand is very hard to read.
He writes the first letter Of word very
plainly and then makes q running
dash with his pen for the rest. Halt
of his words are alike, and none of
them are easy to make out. Dan Voor.
hees writes many of his speeches. He
uses large sheets Of printing paper of
the same size and neatly cut. Hawley
furnishes splendid copy. He is an old
editor aud he knows how to get his
stuff up for the press.
"We seldom get anything from Ran.
dali or Carlisle. Randall's matter
comes from the stenographers of the
House, and Carlisle doesn't make the
long speeches, so full of statistics,
which he used to make several years
ago. Morrison didn't appear on the
floor very often during the recent
session for leader of the House. He
has his lieutenants speak for him, and
thus you see that Randall, Carlisle and
Morrison, who arc considered the
leaders of the Democrats, furnish as
little matter as the country members
from Wayback.
"The three Republicans who furnish
the most copy are Burroughs, Hiscock
and Butterworth, and great many of
the members never speak upon the
floor at all. Hutton of Missouri last
year made speech of one line In
length. 1t was: Mr.. Chairman,
submit the following report"
Most of the long speeches are
printed ip pamphlet form, are they
not 2"
+sYes; ] should say that 90. 1eOths OF
them are so issued. The members get
them SO printed at about cost price,
and they thus distribute them over
their districts and throughout the
United States. Beck's speech on silver
had big run, as had also the eulo.
gies on Henry b. Anthony. When.
ever big speech is made we always
have to get out lot of pamphlet copies
of 1t.
Speaking Of Beck, he Is well liked
at the Government Printing Office
His copy is always rightly PACED and
1t shows study.
<hb w tuS otuCl
never writes q speech, and Morgan OF
Alabama Is known in the Government
Printing Office as old Perpetual Mo
tion.' He is always talking and never
lacks something to say. Senator
Sherman's speeches are largely dictated
TO his private secretary. He writes 4
rather plain hand, almost elfeminate In
Its character. He Is more partlcula,
about his expression than he Is about
the comfort of the printer, and he Is
particular to have himself well re,
ported. Lamar used to bring sccre
tary to the Government Printing OilicG
whenever be made big speech, and
the two would stay there aud correct
and rccorrect the proof until they got
IL just to suit Them. Lamar has au
elegant style, and his speeches
always read like classical essays. When
Jones of Nevada delivered his grea
silver speech he brought his private
secretary TO the Office with him. Thl
speech was a long one and 1t covered
15O pages, think, of the CJHgrc5yiDHq
Record. During the reading the sccrc
when Jones asked Who In the d
is making this speech, young man, yor
or me 2
"The order in the Government Pfint
ing Oilice is to follow the copy, how
ever II reads. This Is, however, Il gen
eral order, and behind It there Is tn,
uuwrl,,en law to make the speoGhe;
readable. The printers patch up many
bad sentence, and the Congrossml,
makes q much better speech In III,
record than lie delivers on the floor
The work of The Government Prlntlnl
Office does not pay quite so well MS lha
Of metropolitan daily, while II pay:
better than that of tho country o0lGls
There Is no danger of man not get
ting his pay, however, and the Govern
mtnt never scales its wagc3"
"Do you get any of the President
copy2"
"Yes, occasionally, though most Ui
his matter is copied beforehand an,
comes TO us in type writer. His lirs